Tag Archives: Funny

The Mets are a good team, but let’s be clear, they aren’t so good to where they can get away not hustling. Reports are manager Terry Collins gave Alejandro De Aza “an earful,” as The New York Post so eloquently put it for his inexcusable play Saturday night.

De Aza failed to get down a bunt, which is bad enough but compounded his failure by not hustling, and the play was subsequently turned into a double play in the tenth inning.

DE AZA: Not good enough to skate. (AP)

“I’ve seen [De Aza] play, and the one thing he is known for is how hard he plays,” Collins told reporters. “But it goes to show you — everybody gets frustrated when they don’t do the job.”

I don’t want to hear it.

Doing your job is to hustle even when you screw up. Getting frustrated is not a viable reason, but an excuse. Not buying it, and I don’t want to hear anything from De Aza saying he thought the ball was caught.

The bottom line is he wasn’t thinking. Or, maybe he could have been thinking since the Mets are a team built on power his mistake would be erased by the long ball. Could that idea have been planted into De Aza’s head by Collins, who says the Mets are a team built on the home run and we don’t bunt, or steal, or hit-and-run?

What I haven’t heard is whether Collins gave Yoenis Cespedes an earful for not hustling in consecutive games and getting caught on the bases. He won’t because Cespedes is supposedly a big star and big stars in all sports are given a long leash when is comes to not hustling.

On Friday, Cespedes was picked off first when he didn’t dive trying to get back to the bag and twisted his ankle. Last night, he was thrown out at second standing up. Go figure. The FOX announcers suggested Cespedes didn’t slide because of his ankle, which is unbelievably lame on several counts.

First, slide headfirst which is what everybody does these days. Second, if his ankle is so bad he shouldn’t have played. They could have delayed sending Michael Conforto down for a day. Or they could have played Matt Reynolds as they did earlier in the week. Or Kelly Johnson, who cleaned up for De Aza with a pinch-hit homer in the 11th inning.

Players play hurt all the time, but if the pain prevents him from doing his job, perhaps he shouldn’t be in the lineup and spend a couple of weeks on the disabled list on the mend. Cespedes’ sore hip was an explanation for why he didn’t slide earlier this year.

Speculation is De Aza will be gone when Jose Reyes is brought up. That’s a logical assumption. Also logical to conclude is Cespedes will be gone after this season when he opts out. Maybe that went into Collins’ thinking for not airing out his center fielder.

Whatever the reasons for not hustling by either player and Collins presumably letting Cespedes skate, they aren’t good enough.

That Rob Manfred is even thinking of it should give pause to any baseball fan, or at least one who considers themselves traditionalists.

MANFRED: Shift not an issue.

There’s no such thing as perfection, and certainly baseball is not without flaws. However, use of a defensive shift isn’t one of them. Manfred, who succeeded Bud Selig as commissioner, in an effort to increase scoring is contemplating outlawing defensive shifts.

Baseball defenses have implemented shifts for years, dating back to Ted Williams if not before. Williams was good enough, and smart enough, to beat the shift.

Many of today’s players are not. Many frustrated by the shift have complained and privately lobbied to outlaw it. If Manfred manages to do this he would be rewarding players for incompetence and not being able to do their job.

Run production has gradually declined in recent years and a knee-jerk reaction has it being attributable to an increase in shifts. Funny, but did anybody connected with Major League Baseball ever think that might be because of a decline in steroid usage?

Of course, this logic would be an admission of the steroid era, one of the black marks of Selig’s tenure.

How many runs do shifts take away is debatable, but I’m willing to bet offenses are more stagnant because too many hitters simply don’t know how to hit. They are too preoccupied with pulling the ball and not using the entire field; they aren’t interested in working the count and drawing walks to increase their on-base percentage; and perhaps above all, they are enamored with the home run and don’t care about strikeouts.

So, what’s next if shifts are outlawed? Could baseball legislate what pitches must be thrown on specific counts? Or, how about telling outfielders how deep they can play, or ban corner infielders from guarding the lines late in the game? What about giving a hitter four strikes instead of three?

There are so many things Major League Baseball could do if it wants to improve the product on the field, but banning shifts is not one of them.

All too often, the stewards of the sport remind me of a man who can’t resist poking the coals of a barbeque to fan the flames. It’s really a great sport, with its biggest problem all those trying to needlessly trying to “improve’’ it.

Regardless of your stance on the Yankees, there had to be a twinge of sadness seeing Derek Jeter helped off the field with a fractured ankle. Say what you will about Jeter, but the man always plays hard and carries himself with dignity on the field.

He’s milquetoast in an interview, but always Tabasco between the lines. To do what he did this season at his age, at the plate and on defense, was remarkable. You have to admire the way he plays the game. He never gives an inch.

Andy Pettitte was right in that you knew something was wrong the way Jeter tried to flip the ball to Robinson Cano despite his obvious pain and stayed on the ground. Funny, the first thing I thought of when I saw it was how Santanio Holmes threw the ball in the air when he was injured. The difference is in football the opposing team can recover and take it in for a touchdown.

Here, Jeter had the presence of mind to try to continue the play while Holmes, well, he is what he is. Jeter will go into the Hall of Fame when he’s done; Holmes will disappear and won’t be missed.

Can the Yankees win without him? Sure they can, but it will be extremely difficult. While others around him falter, Jeter keeps on going, hit after hit, play after play.

The Yankees looked dead in the water last night until Raul Ibanez’s game-tying homer in the ninth. While he’s been a stunning playoff story, trying to win without Jeter makes the odds more difficult.

The Yankees can still win because their starting pitching has been superb and the bullpen has been solid, enough to compensate for the lack of offense. The Yankees aren’t getting anything from Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher. Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson have also underperformed, and for that matter, so has Cano.

All that marquee talent and they can’t score. It’s like how the Mets’ offense was in the second half, only this time the whole country is watching instead of a handful at Citi Field.

I don’t like their chances because of how they’ve been hitting, Jeter’s injury and that the Tigers are pretty good and can smell it after last night. Many teams can be devastated after blowing a four-run lead in the ninth, but the Tigers regrouped.

One thing working in the Yankees’ favor is Detroit’s porous bullen. The Yankees, when clicking, can win a slugfest.